Kage-Maru
Kage-Maru Hagakure Kage-Maru (影丸) meaning "perfect shadow", lit. Shadowcircle (circle stands for perfect). (Kage for short; pronounced KA-géh-''MAH-ru'', born June 6, 1971, Tokyo, Japan)''http://vert-x.tripod.com/kage.html is a Hagakure Ninja in the SEGA video game series ''Virtua Fighter and one of the most popular and recognized characters of the series. Story Virtua Fighter He was born in the ninja village of Hagakure. Kage-Maru is the name given to members of the Hagakure clan who work secretly in the shadows of society. His birthright was to become the tenth-generation Kage-Maru. His father, the ninth-generation Kage-Maru, taught him the fearsome Hagakure-ryū Jū-Jutsu fighting style (葉隠流柔術). One day, his mother, the eighth-generation Tsukikage, was kidnapped by a mysterious figure. Nothing was heard of her fate. Several years later, the village of Hagakure was attacked by an unknown force, Kage-Maru and his father were out fishing, but quickly returned when they saw the blazing village. They were too late, however, and the village was destroyed. A bullet from the mystery group killed Kage-Maru’s father. The next morning, Kage-Maru salvaged a keepsake from his father, donned his costume, and embarked on a journey to prepare him self to take vengeance on those who spilled his father's blood. Virtua Fighter 2 Kage, whose specialty is Jujutsu, has a vendetta against the Syndicate that killed his father. The Syndicate also took his mother away from him and made her as one of their fighters. He made an impressive showing as a fighter during the first tournament but was not able to find much information on J6, although he did receive word that his mother is still alive, he hopes to learn more the second time around. Virtua Fighter 3 Finally, in the 2nd tournament, Kage succeeded in saving his mother (who had been transformed into Dural). For many months, Kage and his mother lived a peaceful life in a small, hidden village. When about a year had passed, though, Kage's mother was suddenly struck by a mysterious illness. Kage's investigation into her ailment revealed that it was an after-effect of her transformation into Dural, and now he is entering the new tournament to find out what connection this has to the new-model Dural. Virtua Fighter 4 After winning the 3rd world tournament, Kage managed to recover a part from the new type Dural. He used that part on his mother, hoping it would cure her. However, the plan backfired. Not only did his mother not recover, it caused his mother to transform back to Dural. She immediately attacked Kage. Sensing no way out, Kage decides to kill her in order to end her suffering. He was nearly successful but she managed to escape and was ultimately rescued by J6. Kage hears of the 4th world tournament and decides to enter to tournament with every intention of killing Dural. Virtua Fighter 5 When Kage-Maru's mother was taken by J6, he knew the only hope of saving her was to enter the Fourth Tournament. He fought brilliantly and made it to the final round, when suddenly a mysterious opponent interrupted the match. He worried that this rival was in fact his mother and sadly, he knew there was no hope of saving her soul. He had no choice but to destroy the disguised fighter, and as he held the limp figure in his arms, he realized it wasn't his mother after all, but one of J6's Durals. The top-secret Dural Project was J6's attempt at creating the ultimate fighter based on the superior fighting techniques of their tournament champions. Kage-Maru knew that his mother must still be alive and he entered the fifth tournament to find her and stop the evil organization once and for all. Fighting Style There is a place in Japan called the "hagakure-no-sato". It is home to those who disappear (Hagakure), spies, or in other words, ninjas. There is also an ancient martial art called "Tegoi", which is the origin of Sumo Wrestling and is the ultimate art of killing. But this art form called "Tegoi" disappeared from history after a certain time. It was forbidden for the rulers of the time feared its astonishing capability of murdering. This martial art, "Tegoi", and "hagakure" joined forces at one time and became "Hagakureyu Ju-jitsu", or "Hagakure" style "Juujitsu". Trivia *Story-Wise, Kage is the most decorated competitor in the Virtua Fighter Tournaments, having won the third tournament (and technically) the fourth tournament. *It is unknown how or when Kage received his facial scar. *Having won a fight, Kage-Maru sometimes recites the word Namu (南無), a Japanese Buddhist voice of devotion originated from the Sanskrit word Namas (नमस्), meaning "bow", "obeisance" or "adoration". The Sanskrit'' Namas'' also appears in the Nembutsu and Namaste phrases, being conjugate as Namō' '''(नमो) in the first one, and as ''Namaḥ (नमः) in the'' second one. *The kanji on his forehead armor (甲) can mean "shell", "first in rank", "instep", "armor", "treble range" or "the first of the ten heavenly stems (Jp. 十干 Jikkan'')". Character Relationships *Due to one of J6's Dural's being his mother, he fights to save her. *Rival with Akira Yuki. Defeated him in the first and fourth tournament. Other Media Virtua Fighter Anime Kage is first portrayed as a mercenary who kidnaps Sarah under the orders of Eva Durix and initially clashes with Akira. While Kage is with Sarah they begin to have feelings for each other. In the middle of the series, Kage decides to assist Akira, Pai and their allies after he had a case of guilty conscience over what he had done that resulted in the creation of Dural. He had also left his Hagakure clan village to hunt down Oni-Maru after most of his people had been massacred by him, who had wanted to kill Kage in order to gain the position as the head of the Hagakure clan. Kage was voiced by Kiyoyuki Yanada in Japanese and by Geoff Whitesell in English. Gallery Kage VF1.jpg|Kage from Virtua Fighter VFArcade.JPG|Kage and Sarah from Virtua Fighter Arcade File:VF32Xa.JPG|Kage-Maru's profile from Virtua Fighter 32X File:VF32X.JPG|Kage and Sarah from Virtua Fighter 32X File:VF2.JPG|Kage-Maru's profile from Virtua Fighter 2 KageVF2P.jpg|Another Kage's Virtua Fighter 2 Profile Kage VF2.gif|Kage from Virtua Fighter 2 Kage Sarah VF2.JPG|Kage and Sarah from Virtua Fighter 2 File:VF2GA.JPG|Kage and Sarah from Virtua Fighter 2 on the Genesis File:VFRKp.JPG|Kage-Maru's Profile from Virtua Fighter Remix File:VFRKvsS.JPG|Kage and Sarah from Virtua Fighter Remix kage-fightersmegamix-sprite_small.gif|Kage's sprite from Virtua Fighter 2 and Fighters Megamix kage-fightersmegamix-sprite2_small.gif|Kage's second outfit in Virtua Fighter 2 and Fighters Megamix Kagemaru Anime.PNG|Kage-Maru without his mask from Virtua Fighter Anime vlcsnap171089mg9.jpg|Kage-Maru from Virtua Fighter Anime kagev.jpg|Kage's portrait from Virtua Fighter 3 KageVF3Portrait1.jpg|Kage in the Virtua Fighter CG Portraits KageVF3Portrait2.jpg|Kage in the Virtua Fighter CG Portraits KageVF3Portrait3.jpg|Kage in the Virtua Fighter CG Portraits kage-clan.jpg|Kage with the Hagakure Ninjas KageVF3Portrait4.jpg|Kage in the Virtua Fighter CG Portraits File:Kage3.jpg|Kage without his mask from Virtua Fighter 3 KageVF3Portrait5.jpg|Kage in the Virtua Fighter CG Portraits KageVF3Portrait6.jpg|Kage in the Virtua Fighter CG Portraits Kage Sarah VF3.JPG|Kage and Sarah from Virtua Fighter 3 Kkage-1.jpg|Kid Kage from Virtua Fighter Kids Image:KageVF4.jpg|Kage from Virtua Fighter 4 Image:KageVF5.jpg|Kage from Virtua Fighter 5 kage-o1.gif|Kage's first outfit from Virtua Fighter 5 kage-o2.gif|Kage's second outfit from Virtua Fighter 5 kage-o3.gif|Kage's third outfit from Virtua Fighter 5 kage-o4.gif|Kage's fourth outfit from Virtua Fighter 5 References Category:Characters Category:VF1 Characters Category:VF2 Characters Category:VF3 Characters Category:VF4 Characters Category:VF4E Characters Category:VF5 Characters Category:VF5R Characters